In financial agencies and the like, automated teller machines that handle banknotes are installed, and transactions can automatically be recorded in booklets.
The booklet recording unit includes a page turning apparatus for turning pages. The page turning apparatus turns and finds a page of a booklet to be printed.
Booklets are not always inserted in a normal state with the front cover up, and may be inserted in various states. For example, a booklet may be inserted in an inverted state with its back cover up.
In this case, conventionally, the machine needs to
(1) temporarily feed the inserted booklet back to the booklet insertion unit and return it to the user so that he/she can reverse the booklet and insert it again with the front cover up, or
(2) solely repeat the operation of turning the inner sheets of the booklet until reaching the page on the front cover side.
However, the method (1) is troublesome for the user, and the method (2) requires a longer process time as the number of pages of the booklet increases.
To solve these problems, a booklet reversing apparatus is provided adjacent to the turning apparatus. The booklet is sent to the booklet reversing apparatus and reversed to make the front cover face up. The reversed booklet is sent to the turning apparatus to perform the turning operation from the front cover side.
The reversing apparatus comprises, for example, a holding plate configured to hold the fed booklet. A rotation mechanism rotates the holding plate by 180° to reverse the booklet.
However, since this method needs the extra reversing apparatus for reversing the booklet, the apparatus becomes bulky.
To solve this problem, an apparatus has been developed, which opens the back cover of a booklet inserted in a back cover face-up state, and then lifts the pages on the front cover side together with the front cover and closes them at once, thereby making the front cover side face up.
Some recent booklets have pages with high flexural rigidity as a part of adding values. For example, there are a booklet that includes an ID page with a security protection layer to prevent forgery and alteration of personal information, and a booklet that has a plastic sheet-like page incorporating an IC chip to allow high-density recording. There also exists a booklet that has a wireless IC chip so as to enable noncontact information read/write. Some of these booklets impart a radio shielding function to the front and back covers to protect recorded information against unauthorized read/write. A booklet of this type is read- and write-accessible only when the front cover is open.
In the apparatus that lifts the pages on the front cover side of a booklet together with the front cover and closes them at once, the pages to be closed at once are lifted while being sandwiched almost at the central portion by a pair of feed rollers. If the booklet is soft with low flexural rigidity, the pages can be bent and lifted. However, if the booklet is hard with high flexural rigidity, the pages cannot be lifted. If the pages are forced up, the booklet may break.